The many benefits of fetal cell research

More than 40 years ago, scientists took tiny samples from three fetuses and discovered that those cells could replicate themselves almost indefinitely, unlike adult human cells. Those cells, cultured from that tiny amount of fetal tissue, are the origins of many of medicine's largest breakthroughs; from one single experiment, millions of lives have been saved.

The three types of cells cultured from those fetal tissues - known to scientists as HEK293, WI-38 and MRC-5 - have revolutionized the prevention and treatment of human disease.

They are used to create the vaccines we inoculate our children with to prevent rubella, mumps, measles, chicken pox, polio, rabies and hepatitis.

HEK293 cells have been used to synthesize human proteins such as insulin and blood-clotting factors. They allow researchers to coax adult human stem cells into becoming nerve, heart, liver and pancreatic cells. Most recently, HEK293 cells have been used to produce gene-delivery viruses that could help generate the cells that many believe hold the cures to Parkinson's, Lou Gehrig's and Huntington's disease - diseases for which there are no cures and very little offered in the way of treatment. There is also great hope to develop treatments for diseases that affect millions of people, such as cardiovascular disease and diabetes.

Without these cells and their derivatives, our understanding of and our ability to treat human disease would be at best rudimentary. It is clear that the commercial and therapeutic benefit of these cells is incalculable and is estimated to be in the billions of dollars with millions of lives saved.

Recently, a bill (2011 Assembly Bill 214) has been introduced by a number of Wisconsin representatives that would make the use of these fetal cells by biomedical researchers and the biotechnology industry a criminal offense in Wisconsin. The rationale for this antagonistic stance is that the tissues used to produce the original HEK293, WI-38 and MRC-5 cells were isolated from fetuses obtained from legally terminated pregnancies over 40 years ago.

Although many find abortion morally unjustifiable, it is important to realize that the original pregnancy terminations were not carried out with the intent to produce cell lines, vaccines or therapeutics. Rather, these cells were generated after the fact, from fetuses that were no longer alive.

The generation of the cells and their use to save millions of lives is morally distinct from the original abortions. Indeed, this argument has led many pro-life advocates, including Edward Furton of the National Catholic Bioethics Center as well as the St. Louis Archdiocesan Pro-Life Office, to support the use of vaccines produced in these cells.

If AB 214 is enacted, it will not reverse the original decision to terminate three pregnancies. It will, however, jeopardize future health care advances, decimate biomedical research within the state, lead to substantial job losses and a significant "brain drain" from Wisconsin and cost us hundreds of millions of dollars in federal research funding and biomedical commerce.

Stephen A. Duncan is Marcus Professor of Human and Molecular Genetics, vice chairman of Cell Biology, Neurobiology & Anatomy and director of the Medical College of Wisconsin's Program in Regenerative Medicine and Stem Cell Biology.